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Recent reports from the specialists at North One indicate that 66.3% of entrepreneurs use their personal funds to start their companies. Your business is your life, and you put everything you can into it, but it might be less stressful if you have a healthy investment account to rely on.

If you’ve ever thought about trying day trading, you may want to improve your chances of success on the stock market with the Ultimate Candlestick Trading and Analysis Master Class Bundle. It’s available for just $24.97 until 11:59 p.m. PT on March 30.

Investing doesn’t have to feel like gambling

The bundle has eight modules showing you the ropes of informed investing strategies. Novices will want to start with Day Trading for Dummies, a step-by-step guide to everything you need to know to start day trading. It covers chart indicators and technical analysis to trading psychology and fundamental analysis, plus everything in between.

Then you can move on to the Day Trading Secrets. The bundle includes four more modules showing you how to manage volume analysis, swing trades, and earn serious profits in the stock market.

The Ultimate Candlestick Trading & Analysis Masterclass is a crowd favorite, with former students rating it 4.8 out of 5 stars. That’s where you’ll really get into the secrets that can guide your investment strategy.

No class can guarantee every investment is going to hit big, but studying can help show you how to invest like a pro.

One of the best features of this bundle is the Market Master Trading Group, where beginners and more seasoned traders can go for support and guidance from a community of experienced individuals. It provides a safe, supportive space for members to connect and share their strategies, experiences and insights. These courses are presented by Travis Rose, a full-time investor and day trader in the U.S. stock market who has been trading full-time for more than five years.

Get The Ultimate Candlestick Trading & Analysis Master Class Bundle while the price has dropped to just $24.97 (Reg. $29.99) until 11:59 p.m. PT on March 30.

StackSocial prices subject to change.

Want to 10x your revenue without hiring more staff? AI is revolutionizing marketing, and if you’re not leveraging it, you’re leaving money on the table. In this video, I’m breaking down 4 powerful AI automations that can save you up to 3 days per week while scaling your business effortlessly.

What You’ll Learn:

• Content Research on Autopilot – Find top-performing content and get fresh ideas in minutes.

• AI Chatbots for Conversions – Boost sales and customer engagement 24/7.

• Lead Generation Made Easy – Automate cold outreach and close more deals.

• Sales Automation That Works – Optimize email campaigns with AI-driven insights.

I’ll show you step-by-step how to integrate AI into your marketing strategy—so you can stop wasting time on repetitive tasks and start focusing on growth.

Download the free ‘AI Success Kit’ (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from Ben’s brand new book, ‘The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.’

As companies like Amazon, JPMorgan, and Walmart implement return-to-office (RTO) mandates, one business is sweetening the deal by giving its employees a $10,000 annual raise for showing up to the office more often.

Cameo, a startup that allows users to purchase and receive personalized video messages from celebrities, began a new RTO policy this week requiring the 26 employees who work at the company’s headquarters in Chicago to be in the office Monday through Thursday, per CNBC Make It. The policy, which the company first announced to staff last month, enables employees to receive a $10,000 yearly raise in addition to free parking, a free daily catered lunch, and free access to an onsite gym.

“We really felt like we wanted to make HQ a perk, not a punishment,” Cameo CEO Steven Galanis told CNBC Make It. “We know we’re asking more out of you to give up the flexibility, and we wanted to compensate you for it.”

Related: AT&T and Sweetgreen Are Following Amazon’s Lead With Stricter Return-to-Office Mandates — Though Amazon’s Plan Has Hit a Snag

Cameo has two dozen additional employees based elsewhere in the U.S. and abroad, mainly in New York and Los Angeles. They were allowed to keep working remotely but weren’t given a pay raise.

Galanis, 37, chose to set the annual raise at $10,000 because the figure would make a “meaningful” difference in employees’ lives and hoped it would help junior employees find housing nearby instead of taking on long commutes.

The Chicago headquarters opened in the summer of 2024, but Cameo leadership never mandated a strict set of days employees had to report to the office. Workers based in Chicago previously came to the office whenever they needed to, showing up an average of two to three times per week, according to Galanis.

^{Cameo CEO Steven Galanis. Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images}

When Cameo informed its Chicago employees of the four-days-a-week in-office policy last month, it also gave them the option to move out of Chicago to not have to come into the office at all.

Cameo found that none of its employees quit or moved away after the announcement. Instead, the opposite happened. Some of Cameo’s remote workers based in other locations expressed interest in moving to Chicago and taking advantage of the perks offered to in-office employees.

A HealthEquity study released earlier this month surveyed more than 600 full-time employees who shifted from fully remote to hybrid or fully in-person work. Three out of four employees said their RTO experiences were positive, with 74% saying they experienced enhanced collaboration.

The top motivators for office attendance weren’t free lunches or a raise, it was professional development opportunities (50%) and team-building events (47%). The biggest obstacle to in-person work identified by the survey was commuting costs (54%).

Related: Read the Letter Sent to AWS CEO Matt Garman, Signed By 500 Employees, Protesting His RTO Comments

Cameo has experienced a tumultuous few years. The pandemic catapulted the startup to unicorn status, with a valuation of $1 billion by 2021. Sales declined by March 2024, erasing 90% of Cameo’s value.

Galanis told Time in December that he thinks the momentum has shifted in Cameo’s favor.

“I’m really grateful for our investors and our team, that they’ve believed in me and allowed us the second shot to build a company that we don’t think has reached near its potential yet,” he stated.

Starting a business is often viewed as a daunting, high-risk venture. Many people dream of entrepreneurship but don’t know where to start. You may be an aspiring entrepreneur waiting for the perfect idea, enough years of experience, the right team, or significant funding to come your way. Perhaps you’re afraid that you’re too young to run your own business. But what if these barriers aren’t as important as you think?

I first became an entrepreneur in college and founded five startups in less than a decade, with valuations ranging from a million to $100 million. Now, at 27, I realize that my mindset was critical to overcoming obstacles and achieving entrepreneurial success. Below are my tips to remove mental blocks and adopt an almost irrational belief in yourself, which is necessary to push through the inevitable challenges you will face as a fledgling entrepreneur.

Related: I’m a Former Google Executive Who Chased My Future Husband Off the Subway. The Powerful Mindset I Used Can Help You Get Anything You Want.

1. Generating the right idea: Start with what you know

Instead of overthinking what the market “needs” or focusing on what others might think is a good idea, it’s best to examine your own life and identify a problem that you have personally faced. People will say there are bad ideas, but every idea is good because it brings you closer to your best idea.

Your initial concept for a product or service is just the jumping-off point. That doesn’t make or break a business as much as your ability to execute and adapt. A personal connection to the problem can help you stay motivated and focused, even when the entrepreneurial road gets tough.

Ideas that ultimately take off are typically timely and topical and address problems that no one else has figured out how to solve. I come from a family that works in law enforcement, for instance, and I co-created the app SafeStop after the death of George Floyd – a period of deep disconnect between law enforcement and the communities they serve. The app allows drivers stopped for traffic violations to chat with officers using a video call, minimizing face-to-face interactions and creating a sense of safety for both drivers and officers.

2. Execution is 90% of success

The truth is, you can’t rely solely on a groundbreaking idea. Successful entrepreneurship is 90% execution. The fear or inability to execute is often what holds entrepreneurs back. Execution isn’t about waiting for the perfect moment or gathering a team before you get started. It’s about taking action, even when you don’t have all the answers.

Ask yourself: How can I advance my goal inch by inch daily? The key is persistence. It’s not enough to wait for all the stars to align. Act now, and adapt as you go.

3. The power of irrational belief

Most people who start successful companies can appear slightly irrational at times for believing their idea will be the one to beat the odds. But the ability to remain confident and focused is a great strength.

Entrepreneurship is unique because you’re often working against probability, and you’ll likely face lots of rejection. If you’re a young entrepreneur, expect that investors, competitors and even peers may be skeptical about your odds of making it.

But you have to believe in your ability to succeed, even when things look uncertain. Even when others around you express doubts. Self-doubt can kill progress. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will either. You won’t be able to inspire potential investors, customers or employees.

The most successful entrepreneurs think, “I’m going to make this work, no matter what.” I have always believed that my businesses would succeed. This isn’t about being arrogant. It’s about having confidence in your ability to solve problems, learn from your mistakes and pivot.

Related: How Mindset Plays a Role in Your Entrepreneurial Success

4. Don’t let risk paralyze you

It’s important to remember that although there’s risk and some form of failure in every entrepreneurial journey, successful entrepreneurs don’t let the fear of failure stop them.

I don’t consider myself a risk-seeker. I don’t speed my car or participate in extreme sports. Coming from a finance background, I was used to downside protection: How can I protect my assets from risk?

Once I founded my own businesses, I quickly realized that while financial considerations are still important, an overly analytical mindset can paralyze you in the founding stages of a company. Don’t get so bogged down weighing every risk and its potential consequences that you’re rendered immobile.

5. Stop overthinking and start acting

Entrepreneurship often doesn’t have a clear path. You may not know exactly what your next step is, but if you wait for perfect clarity, you could wait forever.

When I learned to read growing up, I would always skip words and never read full sentences. I just read what I wanted to and knew that I could fill in the rest. These tendencies carried over into my entrepreneurial endeavors. I had little fear of jumping ahead a few steps and trusting the rest would get handled along the way.

Many entrepreneurs succeed not because they have everything figured out from the start but because they are willing to jump in and figure it out as they go. I have found this to be especially true in the world of tech startups, where quick iterations and rapid course corrections are essential. The same principle applies to any industry, though. The key is consistency and learning from each action you take, whether it leads to success or failure.

Reframe your mindset to focus on the potential for success and trust that your commitment, resourcefulness and drive will carry you through challenges.

6. Inspiration from other entrepreneurs

Looking outside of your immediate circle can also help you shift your mindset. For example, when I was in college at Stanford, I spent a semester studying abroad in Tel Aviv. Israel’s tech startup culture – its focus on innovation, work ethic, and the ability to turn any challenging situation into an opportunity for growth, inspired me to move forward with courage and conviction in creating my own companies.

Reach out to successful entrepreneurs and business leaders who can be mentors. When I created my latest company, FORE Enterprise, I developed an advisory board of business experts from Stanford, Kellogg and Wharton that I could rely on for guidance. Never be afraid to seek help and advice from others who have experience, wisdom and knowledge to share.

xAI, the startup led by Elon Musk that raised $6 billion in December, has a new AI model that it claims is better than AI created by DeepSeek and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

In a live-streamed event on X on Monday that has been viewed over six million times at the time of writing, Musk and three xAI engineers revealed Grok 3, the startup’s latest AI model. They claimed Grok 3 had higher scores on math, science, and coding benchmark tests than OpenAI’s GPT-4o, DeepSeek’s V3, and Google’s Gemini AI.

Related: Elon Musk’s xAI Is Reportedly Set to Hire Thousands of ‘AI Tutors’ With Pay Up to $65 an Hour

They also said Grok 3 was a step up in sheer power from xAI’s previous model Grok 2, released in August. The latest version has more than 10 times the computational power of Grok 2, greater accuracy, and a bigger capacity for large datasets.

“The word Grok [means] to fully and profoundly understand something,” Musk said on the livestream, noting that the word came from the 1961 novel “Stranger in a Strange Land” by American author Robert Heinlein. He added later in the livestream that “if you’re using Grok 3, you may notice improvements almost every day because we’re continuously improving the model.”

^{Animated 3D plot of a spacecraft launch from Earth to Mars and back. Credit: xAI}

xAI engineers demonstrated how Grok 3 could be used to create code for an animated 3D plot of a spacecraft launch that started on Earth, landed on Mars, and came back to Earth.

The engineers also asked Grok to combine two games, Tetris and Bejeweled, into one game. The result, which the engineers played on the livestream, was similar to Tetris with shapes inching down the screen but had the rules of Bejeweled with multicolored blocks that disappeared if there were three in a row.

Related: Google’s CEO Praised AI Rival DeepSeek This Week for Its ‘Very Good Work.’ Here’s Why.

Musk said that any AI could find examples of Tetris or Bejeweled online and duplicate them, but Grok 3 took it one step further.

“What’s interesting here is it [Grok 3] achieved a creative solution combining two games that actually works and is a good game,” Musk noted. “We’re seeing the beginnings of creativity.”

^{Tetris-Bejeweled mashup game in the background. Credit: xAI}

The researchers said they only trained Grok 3’s reasoning abilities on math problems and competitive coding problems, but they observed that Grok 3 could apply what it learned to a variety of use cases, including reasoning through making games.

xAI isn’t the only major AI startup to release advanced AI this year. Last month, OpenAI released the o3-mini, its most cost-effective yet powerful model yet, while DeepSeek came out with R1, a disruptive AI model with cutting-edge performance on a less than $6 million budget.

Grok 3 is currently available for Premium+ X subscribers paying $22 a month.

Watch the event, here:

https://t.co/hEfQ31gANQ

— xAI (@xai) February 18, 2025

You’ve probably seen it before — companies boasting about kombucha on tap and bean bags in the office as if these were the true markers of a thriving culture. But when it comes to finding the right leadership fit, relying on these superficial perks can lead to costly mistakes. Despite many companies focusing on superficial perks, leadership quality remains a significant challenge. Only 40% of leaders rate their organization’s leadership quality as “very good” or “excellent” — a decrease of eight percentage points since the pandemic.

This decline in perceived leadership quality highlights the need for a more substantive approach to hiring and developing leaders. As someone who has spent years working in executive leadership recruitment, I’ve seen firsthand how crucial it is to hire leaders who align with a company’s core values. Without this deeper connection, even the most impressive candidates can struggle to drive long-term success.

Related: Every Hire Has Been a Good One Since This CEO Started Hiring for Values

Rethinking the meaning of cultural fit

True culture fit means finding a leader who aligns with the company’s core values and mission. For example, if a company emphasizes transparency, the right leader will demonstrate clear and open communication, not just within their team but across the entire organization.

Leaders who resonate with these deeper values help prevent the kinds of disruptions that occur when there’s a misalignment between leadership and company culture. I’ve seen organizations bring in highly qualified leaders who failed because their values didn’t align with the company’s goals. These leaders might have succeeded elsewhere, but without that alignment, they couldn’t generate the energy, collaboration or engagement necessary for success in their new roles.

What is the impact of misaligned leadership?

When a leader doesn’t align with a company’s core values, the consequences can be severe. I’ve watched as organizations that hire misaligned leaders experience rapid declines in employee morale, decision-making and collaboration. In many cases, this results in higher turnover and lost productivity.

One standout example is a tech company that hired a CEO from a different industry. This individual had an impressive track record of turning around struggling businesses, but their leadership style clashed with the collaborative, innovative culture of the company. The CEO’s misalignment led to tensions within teams, slowed innovation and eventually caused several key leaders to leave. In just two years, the company missed major market opportunities, and the CEO was quietly replaced.

This is a common pitfall I’ve seen many companies fall into — prioritizing qualifications over leadership fit. The result? Lost opportunities and a significant drop in engagement across the board.

A four-step framework for identifying leadership fit

From my experience, I’ve found a framework that helps companies avoid these mistakes and ensure they’re hiring leaders who meet the technical requirements of the role while also aligning with the company’s values. This value-based hiring approach focuses on both qualifications and cultural alignment. Here’s how I recommend structuring it:

Related: A Healthy Approach to Hiring That Actually Works

1. Clarify core values

Before you begin the hiring process, you need to define the company’s core values and make sure your selection committee understands these values from the inside out. These should be non-negotiable. For instance, if collaboration is a core value, you need to collectively evaluate how well each candidate fosters teamwork and cooperation across different departments.

2. Use a diverse selection panel

I always advise involving a diverse group of decision-makers in the hiring process. Relying on a narrow group can lead to biased decisions and “groupthink.” A diverse panel helps ensure that the candidate is evaluated from multiple perspectives, which leads to a more objective assessment of their potential fit.

Many companies try to cut costs by conducting leadership searches internally or relying on their own networks, but I’ve seen how this can backfire. While this approach might save money upfront, it often leads to costly mistakes in the long run.

For a non-biased approach, consider utilizing executive search firms. These agencies provide an objective perspective and access to a broader talent pool, leading to faster, more effective hiring results. By partnering with an executive search firm, you can avoid the pitfalls of relying solely on internal candidates and ensure that you’re hiring the right leadership fit.

3. Ask probing questions

It’s essential to ask the right questions during interviews. Don’t just focus on accomplishments or leadership style in general terms. Instead, ask candidates about specific situations where they had to navigate challenges that reflect the values important to your company. For example, if resilience is a key value, ask about a time when they had to overcome significant obstacles to achieve a goal.

4. Evaluate beyond the first impression

First impressions can be deceiving, and I’ve seen too many companies make quick decisions based on superficial traits. It’s crucial to dig deeper and evaluate how well a candidate truly aligns with both the company’s values and the specific requirements of the role. This helps you avoid falling into the trap of hiring based on comfort or familiarity.

Additionally, take time to establish a balance between technical qualifications, cultural expectations and leadership alignment. It’s important to establish consistent criteria for each leadership role. For example, if the Chief Financial Officer requires ten years of experience, the Chief People Officer should have the same level of experience. Consistency helps ensure fairness and avoids bias in the hiring process.

Related: I Hire a New Employee Every Week. Here’s What This Practice Has Taught Me About Hiring and Recruiting

The quest for the perfect candidate involves far more than a stellar resume or an easy rapport with the existing team. Through my years of experience in leadership recruitment, I’ve seen how focusing on value-based hiring ensures a deeper alignment between a leader’s values and the company’s mission. This alignment creates a leadership team that can drive long-term success, innovation and employee engagement. When you hire for true leadership fit, you’ll find that the rewards far outweigh the superficial perks of bean bags and kombucha.

Time management is one of the top skills business owners need to succeed. Struggling with notoriously difficult PDFs is not the best use of your time. Fortunately, you can now zip through PDF tasks with UPDF, and a lifetime subscription is currently available to new users for 60% off at $59.99.

UPDF is an all-in-one PDF editor with powerful tools compatible with Windows, Android, Mac OS X, and iOS. It makes all of the previously frustrating PDF tasks incredibly easy.

Quickly convert PDFs to and from common Office formats, such as XLSX, DOCX, and PPTX. You can also convert to common image formats, including JPEG, TIFF, PNG, BMP, and even GIF. You can even compare PDFs to find the differences between two files.

Organizing your PDF documents is just as simple. Insert, extract, remove, replace, reorder, split or crop pages. UPDF makes advanced annotations of your PDFs a breeze. Add signatures, comments, highlighting, underlining, strikethrough, stickers, sticky notes, and much more.

Edit, add, or remove headers, footers, and watermarks. Extract, replace, add, remove, rotate, resize, and crop images. Add or edit links and text, including changing the font, size, color, orientation, and more. You can even create backgrounds for your PDF documents, choosing the color, an image, or another document.

UPDF supports text-to-speech; multiple viewing modes, including scrolling of single and two-page views; search and find; bookmarks, fillable forms, batch processing, and digital signatures.

Something especially cool about this tool is that an AI Assistant add-on is available for purchase. It allows you to chat with your PDF documents, requesting them to translate, summarize, rephrase, and explain long PDFs in mere minutes.

It’s easy to see why users love the platform, rating it 4.2 stars out of 5 on the App Store.

Get a lifetime subscription UPDF – Edit, Convert, AI Chat with PDF while it’s available to new users for the price of $59.99 a discount of 60% off the regular $149 subscription price.

UPDF – Edit, Convert, AI Chat with PDF: Lifetime Subscription – $59.99

See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

If you’re trying to move up in your career with a new position, you can get up to three times more job interviews by using LoopCV, the company claims. A lifetime subscription to the Premium Plan is on sale for only $39.

Since you’ll have lifetime access to LoopCV, you can use it to search for jobs throughout your career. It’s connected to more than 30 platforms and job boards, including LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster Jobs, Workable and many more. There is even a LinkedIn Apply extension included.

The monthly allowances are 50 job title searches and 300 emails or applications. You can create a custom email address just for your job searches, label some applications high-priority, and even perform global searches for remote jobs worldwide.

First, create a profile and upload a resume or CV. Then choose your settings, including locations, job titles, and other options. Once LoopCV shows you jobs that fit your criteria, you can apply for them manually or let LoopCV apply for you.

LoopCV allows you to apply automatically to just the jobs you like best, via email or by filling out application forms. When the program applies automatically, it uses your resume or CV. You can literally apply to hundreds of jobs at a time.

LoopCV also provides you with data that can help you improve your odds of getting interviews. It gives you statistics on which resumes/CVs got the most attention, how many companies opened the emails you sent, how many replied, and more. This allows you to A/B test various email and resume/CV versions so you can use the one that works best.

Get a lifetime subscription to the LoopCV Premium Plan while it’s available for just $39.

LoopCV Premium Plan: Lifetime Subscription – $39

See Deal

StackSocial prices subject to change.

In 2025, it’s not enough to simply use AI; you need to leverage it strategically to make serious money. This video reveals a powerful, three-step framework for turning Google AI Studio (a free tool!) into your personal, profit-boosting machine.

Using a data-driven approach to marketing, you’ll learn how to succeed where others fail in monetizing AI technology. You’ll discover how to train an AI chat window to become your top sales and marketing analyst, uncovering hidden opportunities and maximizing your returns.

This isn’t about vague theories; it’s about actionable steps you can take today. We’ll cover how to gather your crucial business data, teach AI to analyze it like a pro, and then translate those insights into real-world strategies for boosting sales and profits.

Download the free “AI Success Kit” (limited time only). And you’ll also get a free chapter from Ben’s brand new book, “The Wolf is at The Door – How to Survive and Thrive in an AI-Driven World.”

Ten years ago, I stood on the edge of a tall, craggy rock with waves crashing dramatically around me. Three or four feet away, surrounded by foamy ocean surf, rose an even taller, craggier rock. The sun was hot, the air refreshingly cool. I was enjoying some much-needed downtime in Seychelles, and I’d climbed the rock because I wanted photographic evidence for my six daughters back home in California.

It occurred to me that it’d look even better if I could somehow make it to the second, more impressive rock, so I immediately set about trying to figure out how. I noticed a series of stones between the two that might serve as a sort of bridge; the problem was that my current perch was too slippery to simply climb down. I’d have to jump.

I was nervous but determined. I felt strong — a little athletic. Any doubts were overridden by a sudden surge of confidence, which instructed me to go for it. Then I heard my wife of 15 years, Rachel, who was filming from the shore, say, “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Related: The Only 2 Answers You Need to Figure Your Next Move

The video evidence of the disaster that followed will never see the light of day. Suffice it to say that I didn’t quite reach the second rock. Back at the hotel that night, as I lay in bed contemplating my painfully gashed leg, battered body and bruised self-esteem, it occurred to me that there was probably a leadership lesson in here somewhere.

I could think of my accident in one of two ways. The first was that my loving wife had fatally undermined my confidence at the moment of truth; otherwise, I’d have landed nimbly as a cat. The moral for aspiring business leaders is: Be bold. Don’t listen to naysaying voices. Believe in yourself, and success will follow.

The second perspective was that Rachel had asked precisely the right question. At nearly 40 years of age and not quite in my svelte prime, I should have understood that assaulting the second rock was a less-than-stellar idea. In fact, I probably had understood it. What I’d taken for confidence was actually bravado. I knew I was talking myself into a bad deal, but by then, it was too late to retreat.

After carefully considering the available evidence for a millisecond, I chose door number two. In my experience, leadership isn’t always about boldly preceding others over dangerous terrain. Often, it’s a matter of listening to all sides and thoughtfully accepting the best advice. Did I take time to listen to input from all directions as I ran my business?

Related: Are You Ready to Start a Company? Ask Yourself These 6 Questions.

Did I value other points of view to the point that I allowed them to alter outcomes?

In no particular order, here are some thoughts that occurred to me over the next 24 hours as I sat on the beach (poor me, I know) nursing my injured leg instead of scuba diving:

• Having a strong, competitive personality in any walk of life has its advantages, but humility doesn’t usually top the list. Being known for good ideas can cloud your memory of all the many, many bad ones that preceded or even accompanied the former. I’ve gotten okay at not emotionally investing personally in my own ideas over the years, but there are times when my king-of-the-hill side can take charge and propel me toward an unpleasant tumble. These are the times when I need as many people as possible to question my wisdom.
• If Rachel had asked her question ten seconds earlier, there’s a chance I would have thought it over and concluded that no, monkeying around on slick, hard, uneven surfaces was probably better left to climbers much more agile than myself. I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if she held back like she did because she doubted that I’d take the hint anyway.
• In the future, shaving off even a second or two of that hesitant doubt could mean the difference between a smooth, unmarred shin and the complete opposite. And the only psychological razor at my disposal in this scenario is to train and retrain myself to listen to people — especially people who know me well. There’s a very fine line between a leap of faith and a leap of hubris, and sometimes, you need partners with perspective to help you judge.
• Sparing room in your personality for approachability is exactly that: a conscious decision followed by practice. When it comes to sports, school, creativity, etc., we accept the relationship between practice and improvement without much fuss. With moral, ethical and temperamental matters, our approach is less precise. If I can train myself to climb, I can train myself to listen.
• Sometimes, you’re going to be wrong regardless. Rachel had a different view than I had as I crouched there precariously with waves crashing into me. A little exercise and training on my part, though, will probably alter her view if we find ourselves in similar circumstances in the future. Being wrong once doesn’t mean that I have to choose the less scenic spot from now on; it just means that I have to prepare better.

Albert Einstein reportedly said, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” I’ve known about the virtue of listening since I was a child, but how deep is my understanding? You might ask yourself the same question. Take it from a battered well-wisher: a warning that comes ten seconds too late is really a prophecy, and it sucks being at the wrong end of one of those.